Acts2:9

1

The name Parthia comes from an Old Persian word, and appears to have meant “strong man or champion.” It is also the word from which the name “Persia” came. The region of Parthia became a province of the Persian Empire and later a part of the Seleucid Empire. The Parthians may have originated with a local tribe.  (Abarim Publications).

The people behind worldhistory.org think it was the Parni tribe which rebelled against the Seleucid Empire and gained independence, establishing the Parthian Empire, which was successful at stopping the Roman Empire from expanding their direction. The control of their empire stretched from the Mediterranean Sea on the West and reached to India and China on the East. They had control of the steppes and other resource-rich lands. They were also known to be creative and successful in military tactics, architecture, trade, and other aspects of society. See  https://www.worldhistory.org/Parthia_(Empire)/.

Every man wants to be a strong champion. Some achieve that status more so than others, but it is the desire of every man. In this context we could say that, in order to fulfill his inner dreams of being a strong champion, every man needs to hear about Jesus and learn to live the Jesus way. When we learn to live in humility and submission to God, to spend ourselves for others instead of for self, to live a life of self-sacrifice instead of self-centeredness, then we will be strong; then we will be the champions for the poor, the needy the hopeless and the lost.

2

The name Medes refers to Media, originally Madai, which seems to have come from the verb Madad which means “measured by Yah” which is an abbreviated form of “measured by YHVH.” The person with the name Madai was a son of Japheth and a grandson of Noah (Gen 10:2), thus he knew about YHVH. The empire of Media is best known for its important contribution to the Medo-Persian empire due to the actions of King Cyrus to combine elements of both empires into one empire. Another explanation is that the name Media refers to “the middle” and describes the land between two major geographical barriers such as rivers or mountains. The people at Abarim Publications favor a Hebrew meaning of “measured by Yah,” and I am choosing that one because it is associated with the grandson of Noah and thus seems to be the more ancient of the two options.

Actually, all of us are being measured by the Lord and all of us will receive the recompense merited by our actions, unless we are under the blood of Jesus, in which case we will receive mercy instead of getting the punishment we deserve. This name could refer to everyone, because all of us are being measured by YHVH, or it could refer to those recognize they are being measures by them and want to live accordingly. Either way, the message that Jesus is the Messiah was for the people described by this name.

3

The name Elamites comes from Elam which comes from Alam which means “hidden or concealed.” This was not a reference to something hidden away for safe keeping, but rather a hidden potential that had not yet been revealed publicly. The word is closely associated with the idea of potential (Abarim Publications). The Elamites resided in Mesopotamia on the Northeast shore of the Persian Gulf. They lived on the high ground of a plateau. They carried on extensive trade with people from faraway lands and the religion they developed influenced other religions even after their loose-knit society had come under the rule of other empires. From https://www.worldhistory.org/elam/. However, Acts 2 differentiates between the Elamites and other Mesopotamians; It does this possibly because of the richness of the meaning of the names.

Once again, this name refers to everyone because everyone has hidden potential. Everyone needs to hear the message that Jesus is the savior and Lord because we all have God-given potential that will not be reached unless we get connected to our Creator and begin living for His glory, not for ourselves.

4: Residing

This word is a combination of the preposition “down” and the verb “dwell or reside” which in turn comes from the noun “house.” The word used in this verse obviously has a form of the word “house” in it. This word indicates people who have settled “down” in an area, built houses and are living there long term, not just passing through with tents.

5

Meso means “between, in the middle” and Potamia is a form of the word for “river.” Water is obviously necessary for life, and rivers provide water in large quantities. They also provide fish and a form of navigation, but I believe the intended emphasis here is on life. The ancients saw water as a source of life. However, God is the only source of life, so things like rivers are either secondary sources of life, representations of the true giver of life, or they are things God put in place to help sustain life.

Again, this is a reference to everyone because God has placed representations of His life-giving abilities all around us, on all sides (not just on two sides with us “between” them.

6

The name Judea simply means the region in southern Israel, but it comes from the name Judah, so I am using the meaning of the name Judah, “those who praise [God].”

7

Capadocia is thought to mean “land of fine horses.” Horses were mostly used for war, so if a land was known for fine horses, it would mean that they were likely dangerous in warfare. They were to be feared.

8

Pontus means “the sea” and referred to people living on the South shore of the Black Sea. This assumes that they were likely involved in lots of maritime activity. Sailors were held in a strange kind of awe because the sea was an unknown and dangerous place. Despite other possible bad reputation issues with sailors, they were considered courageous risk-takers because they faced death in ways that normal people never did.

9

The name Asia, applied in Bible times to Asia Minor, seems to mean “the place of rising” and most scholars consider it to refer to the rising of the sun. Others (such as Abarim Publications) say such an idea is unlikely because there were other people living further East than they were, and therefore the idea of “rising” probably referred to something else such as “the rise of human reason.” However, they did not have to be the Eastern-most people group to claim the name “place of the rising of the sun.” Thus, either option is possible. My conclusion is that they claimed to be important because they saw themselves as the source (place of the rising) of important things, such as the sun and reason and advancement.